#massive tearjerker

[rachelsfav-queer]

AAAAAA SHIT!!!!

Okayyyyyyyy! I'm feeling angsty for some reason (probably cause I'm an idiot and keep listening to sad music) so I'm taking a break from my actual writing to get this out. I knew I couldn't not write it either cause it's just too good, but ITS SO HEARTBREAKING!!!!

I'm really sorry about this

(Note: I started this oneshot before I got the news last night, so obviously I'm in a much better mood lol)

It hadn't been long after Enid had passed that it started. Yoko was also gone, which left Wednesday alone, truly alone, for the first time in decades. The three of them had all grown into old age, even Yoko, who had found a spell to allow her to age with her wives, two people she could not stand to outlive.

And now, it's only Wednesday left, her genes allowing her a naturally longer lifespan. Well, at least, as long as the ones who held her heart lived. But now, she can feel her age catching up to her in the most brutal ways. Her mind, body, and soul are all withering quickly and without mercy.

Enid’s funeral was only two weeks after her passing, but by then, Wednesday was already in a wheelchair, barely capable of holding herself up even in the chair. It broke Bianca’s heart, the sight of her best friend suffering so deeply that it reflected completely on her physical body. And the pain wasn’t only present in her physical condition, but also emotionally. Nobody had seen Wednesday so utterly desolate in years. It was as if every last bit of her will to live had been torn from her.

And really, it was.

Everyone knew that when an Addams falls in love, they love with everything they have, all of their soul is dedicated to their chosen. It's how they're built, and it has its ups and downs. One of the worst cons is showing itself clear in Wednesday now.

She is degrading, every part of her. An Addams is truly nothing without the ones they love. It gets so bad that only a month after Enid's death, Wednesday is entirely reliant on others to stay alive and care for herself. Bianca does her best, but is ultimately helpless on her own, needing help from other friends and nurses. Especially because Wednesday simply doesn't speak anymore. The only sounds she makes are the tiniest grunts, and that's only ever in response to little Raven, who still speaks to her every day.

Little Raven, oh poor little Raven. She made a promise long ago to always be there for her best friend, and she is staying true to that promise. By now, she's long since figured out all the abilities she has as a spirit possessing a physical object. One of those abilities is to affect living beings around her, at least a bit. She uses this to ensure no one tries to separate her from Wednesday, nobody even gets the idea to do so with her influence. And so, the haunted plushie that has always remained by Wednesday's side throughout the entire time they've known each other stays posted right at Wednesday's side, sitting atop the bedside table.

One day, she's not sure why, but little Raven decides to finally tell Wednesday her story. It all starts with a soft chuckle, "You know, I used to know someone who was just like you, Wednesday. She was... everything." And little Raven tells the seer everything. From the moment she met her little sister, to the moment she finally met her. It was long and complicated, but somehow, little Raven knew the entire time that the seer was listening.

Eventually, little Raven finished. It was then that something beautiful happened. Wednesday, for the first time in so long, spoke. "Raffi," the seer's voice was weak as she spoke the name the spirit hadn't heard in a century, the name she had forgotten, but she heard it so clearly, and it shocked her thoroughly. "You're curious. I saw this, in a vision, when I first held you. A Boot-strap paradox, quite exhausting. You have... served me well, old friend. You protected me, you cared for me, and you have shown me all the love you had to give. Furthermore, you have given me comfort in the darkest of times, and it is my turn to return that comfort. You've done well, Raffi. But... my time here on this mortal plane is come to a close, and so is yours. You have no need to hold yourself here anymore, so please, forgive yourself. It's time to let go. As Enid and Yoko are waiting for me, so is Lovette waiting for you. It's time we meet them again. I love you, little Raven."

"We- Wednesday... Thank you. It has been such an honor, being your friend. I love you too, Wednesday. Good night."

And so, in that lonely old mansion, two spirits, two best friends, leave together onto their final adventure. When Bianca enters the room again and sees her friend has passed, she oddly feels at peace. As if some huge weight has been lifted from the very walls of the house itself. And Bianca sees the raven plushie, and she can't quite describe it for a while, the stuffed animal almost seems to be missing something. But eventually, she realizes, and she smiles, “So long, little Raven. It was nice to meet you. Goodbye Wednesday, you finally got that splash of color you needed.” With that, the siren sets the plushie atop Wednesday’s chest and leaves a final kiss on the seer’s forehead, leaving her to finally rest.

End <3

(Little Raven + her sister’s name reveal???)

(This is what I had on repeat while finishing this lol)

[peaches2217]

I DID IT

I BEAT WONDER AND I’M CRYING BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD

Still got plenty left to do! I haven’t even TOUCHED the Special Worlds yet. Wanted to save those 😌 but uuuuuuugh my heart! The final battle was legit the most fun I’ve ever had in a Bowser fight. (And I actually cleared it without dying once, which means maybe I don’t suck as hard as I used to!)

Oh my God, 11/10 game. I can’t even BEGIN to describe how perfect it is.

[confinesofmy]

me and my cousin i'm barely on speaking terms with (but in a relatively casual way) repotted her deceased grandmother's pothos today. this was our first time actually properly repotting it bc last summer it was in such a fragile state and we were so scared to hurt it that we just lifted it out of its pot and placed it in a bigger one but this go round we basically dismantled it entirely. we got eight discrete plants and placed it into four different pots!! in nine months it went from the edge of death to that many plants and like ninety leaves altogether. so if you're bad with plants but still wanna fool with them, i guess you should get a pothos.

[ceasarslegion]

Anyone who's close to me knows that video games as an interactive art form is something I am very passionate about, and it's a shame to me that so much of it gets glossed over in the moment of playing, especially when it's within a popular, mainstream game. I feel like indie games get a lot more attention paid to the artistry within them while the very real creativity of the dev teams of massive A-list titles get reduced down to the mass market audience that does not tend to pay attention to the details.

I'm thinking of this since hearing Penny's battle theme in Pokémon Scarlet on my second run of the game. Admittedly I was also too focused on beating her in my first run to notice how well-constructed her song is. And then I downloaded it and gave it a proper sit-down listen on my commute.

I think hiring Toby Fox to compose for them was one of the best artistic decisions the pokemon company made in recent years. He's definitely known for his video game music, with his big flashy chiptune-esque songs that are fundamentally difficult for any human hand to play with how complicated their structure is, but still convey entire stories in their own right. The two main things everyone praised Undertale for back in 2015 were its simple but heartfelt tearjerker story, and its music. And you very rarely see music noticed by wider video game audiences at all.

I think that's because there's a certain auditory genius in what Toby Fox does. You can hear a lot of 8-bit and early digital leitmotifs in Penny's theme. It's harsh, angry, very quickly paced, but it's not hard on your ears either. It somehow sounds like a lonely, bullied kid at her breaking point letting all her pain and rage out at you in the only way she knows how. That part of the scene and her character culminate so well through the music that I feel the message could get across even without the context. Character themes are what Toby Fox has always done best imo.

Also love how he composes music that is nearly impossible to play on physical instruments. He really grabs the video game medium by the horns as a fully digital art form and relies primarily on his skill with computers to create music for fully digital stories.

[moononmyfloor]

My Year End C-drama Review (2023)

Part 1

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17. Actors I newly discovered in 2023

Hong Yao, Wang Yinglu, Marcus Li, Tian Jiarui, Qin Hailu, Wang Ke

Some of these are new actors, some are already very experienced but I discovered only now. All of them provided phenomenal performances in their roles this year.

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18. Favorite Child Actors of the Year

Wang Haoze (Ou Zimo- Be Your Own Light), Phoebe Sun Yichen (Duoduo- Stay With Me)

Child actors in C-ent always baffle me, I have zero idea how they are SO good. Impeccable performance. I want to take them home. 🥺

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19. Feminist Cdramas of the year

Be Your Own Light, A Journey to Love

The premise of the first is about women to begin with, the second only partially. Most of the time the self-identifying feminist stories fail massively in realistic depiction of women, let alone idol dramas where the focus is elsewhere.

But these two shows really understood what women think and say, their priorities and what they want in life, how they conduct themselves....and not through the eyes of men who assume women crave xyz things only. The arcs and growths of women in these two shows felt very organic and relatable.

(I hear there were few other such dramas this year as well, eg: Faithful. But this is all I managed to watch huhu)

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20. A drama that let me down

Destined

The chemistry of the real-life pair Bai Jingting and Song Yi was adorable, but the story just wasn't my cup of tea.

I absolutely loved their spacious bedroom tho!

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21. Favorite BGM

Be Your Own Light- I Only Wish to Face the Light by Liu Yuning

Stay with Me- Stars Shine by Zhang Jiongmin, Xu Bin

I Am Nobody- Sea of Time by Zhou Shen

Young Blood 2- Lending a Ray of Light by WineQ (圈9)

Romance On the Farm- Letters from Spring by Su Yunying

Silence of the Monster- Cross a City Just to See You by Huang Yi

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22. Favorite wardrobes

Sui Yi (Sun Yihan)'s wardrobe in Silence of the Monster and Pang Hongmei (Peng Xiaoran)'s fits in Unshakable Faith

Oh they looked so delightfully vintage and exactly my style! 😍

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23. Best Breakups

Moxi and Jiagui (Gone With the Rain), Xiangyi and Wanmian (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

I HAD to include this category simply because of these two pairs. I LOVED those two scenes. So mature! Such thorough discussion about how their feelings have changed over time, the frank admission that there are indeed some remnants left (because contrary to popular depiction, feelings don't POOF overnight), how they'd always consider the other as a special someone that they were lucky to have met in their lives, the wish to remain as tight friends in the future as well.... 🤌🤌🤌👏👏👏

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24. Worst character designs

Road Home

Gods know I only sat through this for Jing Boran in army gear and snow. The characters were so mind-blowingly flat despite the actors giving their best to "understand" their roles and make them relatable but there was only so much they could do. All the interpersonal relationships happened just because the writer said so. There was a child character who was passed from hand to hand for whenever the writer wanted a "warm childcaring and family moment" but was discarded without a glance the next second, I got second-hand abandonment issues from watching that lonely kid. I did not understand why anyone was doing anything at any given moment.

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25. Most convincing villains aka characters I loved to hate

Yuan Hao (Young Blood 2)- Gotta be one of the most dangerous villains I have ever seen. He was insanely smart, unpredictable and cunning AND strong, and it took all the heroes of the story to defeat him and still it was barely enough. He was so well written and portrayed, till the very end of the show the viewers weren't sure of the outcome of the battle.

Jiao Liqiao (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)- AHH Jiao jie! We all love a good unhinged female villain who isn't uwufied in the name of some weird "women should always be portrayed with tearjerking backstory" notion. Let her go crazy all over the place, we support women's wrongs as well as rights! She always meant what she said and did what she meant and it was terrifying to see.

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26. Favorite murder kittens of the year

Gong Yuanzhi (My Journey to You), Li Tongguang (A Journey to Love)

Oh these two bois were VERY disturbing individuals and I wouldn't go within 1 mile radius around them but were them such delightful affection starved meow meows with killer (ha!) hair and eye acting? Heck yes.

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27. A drama that I wished was longer

Romance On the Farm

I really appreciate how 3D and empathetically portrayed all the family members are. We are shown all their sides and what made them what they are today without making a mockery of Asian family values, but rather constructively analysing + celebrating the good parts.

And then there is a political thriller story arc.

And then there is "this is all but a game" part which I had to try very hard to pretend like it's ignorable.

And then there was the basic premiere of the pastoral country life story.

Clearly the dramamakers had LOTS of ideas. And you can see none of them were empty bite-more-than-can-chews but had actual potential.

If only.... it didn't try to do all this at once under the guise of a 26 ep lighthearted fluffy romcom genre.... it would've made such a difference.

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28. A drama I wanted to watch but couldn't

SO many! For all sorts of reasons.

Ray of Light, Butterflied Lover, The Road to Ordinary, Pledge of Allegiance, Where Dreams Begin, There Will Be Ample Time, Faithful, Stand By Me

ARGH!😭

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29. A drama I wish more people watched

Stay With Me

This is a Chinese BL, with Chinese cast, Chinese locations, but produced by a TW company. That's all I'm going to say about it, give it a try. You won't regret it. (Maybe don't watch last episode tho lol)

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30. Most favorite Cdrama of 2023

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Why? Because... well if you are in the fandom you'd know, if you aren't... I can write ESSAYS about it so I won't 😂 In short, it was such a healing watch.

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31. A Cdrama I'm excited to see in 2024

JOL 2. Obviously.

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Conclusion

2023 served to solidify my belief that there's really no 'perfect' drama, what I can do is listening to the stories people have to share and then take what I want from them, and leave what I don't want behind. Some may resonate more with me, some less. Some may teach me new things, some may feel redundant. Sometimes you will enjoy only 50% of a drama and hate the rest, but that won't diminish the impact that 50% had on you. It could be a totally different experience for another viewer and that's fine. I watched all the DMBJ shows this year as well (but didn't speak about them in this list since my focus was on 2023) and it really was an exercise on not being overly critical and going with the flow or you would totally miss out on all the good things DMBJ had to bring.

Overall I enjoyed 2023 Cdramaland a lot. I hope this review helped some of you to try out dramas that you didn't know existed/were hesitant to press play or continue on!

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More Posts by Me

[firstagent]

With the finale of Digimon Ghost Game yesterday, how would you now rank the finales of each Digimon series?

You can tell it's been a minute since I've had a chance to get to these. It's what happens when you run a big tournament and immediately have a ton of con work (and a con). Anyhoo...

Appmon: Perhaps a surprise winner, but it has the massive action sequence, a tearjerker ending, didn't force an unnecessary separation, and the hero made decisive actions that both wrapped up his character arc and established where he goes next.

Tamers: Immensely powerful and ticks all of the right boxes. Both thrilling, tragic, and still somehow hopeful in the end. Only second because the partner separation, as much as it pays off and works in this ending, is out of the heroes' control.

Adventure (1999): The final farewell and the buildup to it is etched in everyone's minds as an iconic franchise moment, as it should be. But there is a lack of suspense in the final battle, which is more of a badass showcase of everyone. That's all right, but it's nice to be a little concerned about fighting a being of total destruction.

Frontier: Rough as the buildup is, it delivers on everything we wanted to see. Takuya has a proper meltdown, everyone unifies for one massive world-spanning fight against Lucemon's final form, and the big hospital scene at the end is silly yet poignant. It makes full use of everything it had to work with.

Adventure: (2020): For a series defined by spectacle, they certainly knew to go all out for the ending. A new form for Omegamon, a multi-tiered fight, and an ending that's smooth enough to offer something for every character. It's not ambitious, but it's plenty of fun.

Ghost Game: Speedrunning past the stuff that needs to be covered (big battle, exposition) to make time for things that actually ties the show together (characters taking a stand, story advancement). It's a bold choice, but it's nice to see from a show lacking in story and character meat.

Xros Wars: It's a solid enough string of action sequences and a Xros Wars-worthy final evolution. It delivers everything it needs to, but also exposes how thin the relationships in Xros Wars are, when Taiki's final farewell to Shoutmon is a hardy handshake and a congratulations. Feels like there should be more to it.

Savers: Exactly the kind of wild, badass climax you'd expect Savers to deliver, and Masaru is in top form. But it's one of those that when you let it process for a bit, forcing the Digimon back into the Digital World seems so wrong considering proving they and humans could co-exist was the point of the whole show in the first place. Masaru busting through that is but a small consolation.

Hunters: Really the only thing wrong with it is that Tagiru never cemented his place as underdog enough to earn the ending he gets. With that, you've got the last kid anyone should trust with the world forced to save it in front of legends. He brushes with that here, but his overall attitude makes it feel more like immature wish-fulfullment than a satisfying narrative conclusion.

Zero Two: Regardless of where you're at with the actual choices made with the epilogue, the franchise is still struggling to navigate all the worms it opened in that can. It's vague where it shouldn't be, definitive where it shouldn't be, and while the concept of all kids potentially becoming Chosen is both wonderful and intriguing, lobbing it at us with no development and so many distractions makes it hard to appreciate.

[denimbex1986]

'When Andrew Scott and Jessica Gunning met on the set of British comedy drama Pride in 2014, little did they know that a decade later they would both be celebrating Emmy nominations – Andrew for Ripley and Jessica for Baby Reindeer. Nor did they anticipate that they would remain such great friends. “The film really bonded us together,” grins Andrew, as he joins Esquire and Jessica to discuss the film’s 10 year anniversary. “I know both your sisters,” Jessica says, affectionately.

Friendship is at the heart of what Pride is all about. Written and directed by Matthew Warchus, it tells the uplifting and boisterous true story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), an activist group founded in 1984 in London to raise money for the Welsh miners. The film shows how both LGSM and the miners overcome mutual prejudices through a common goal of solidarity, at a time of raging homophobia and class division. Andrew plays the real life Gethin Roberts, a gay man from Wales living in London who forms a part of LGSM. Jessica is Siân James: a housewife, volunteer, and later a trailblazing politician, who encouraged the miners and the activists to join forces. “What’s so wonderful,” Andrew says, as he looks back on Pride’s impact, “is that it’s not about gay people or their sexuality but about their humanity and what [this group] did.”

The film has genuine cult status. No Pride month goes by without a string of London screenings, where the sound in the cinema is a mix of belly laughs and sobs. “To watch the movie is to love the movie,” Andrew explains. And indeed, Pride’s reputation as a family friendly crowd pleaser has a real-life impact: “So many young people still come up to me and say it helped them come out to their parents,” says Jessica. “As soon as you show someone being humanised, it’s easier.”

Like the best ensemble movies, Pride is a broad church. There are moving performances from Brit stalwarts Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton (the famous “sandwich scene” both actors portray is a notorious tearjerker), but Pride also features an assorted biscuit tin of fresh-faced British acting talent: Freddie Fox, George Mackay, Russell Tovey, and… well, Jessica and Andrew, all had defining roles.

Even though it was starry, the film was shot on a low indie budget between London and Wales; there were no actors hiding in their fancy studio trailers, Andrew recalls. Nor, Jessica adds, was there a separation between the youngsters and the established actors. “That’s what I remember: everyone just talking all of the time.”

It’s no wonder that they both remain such great friends – filming Pride sounds like it was brilliant fun. They fall into laughter discussing anecdotes from behind the scenes, especially over a much loved segment where Dominic West flaunts his disco moves. But some of their fondest memories are from attending “fancy parties” while promoting the film. “We celebrated several times,” says Jessica. “We still are!” Andrew replies, with a sheepish grin.

With the success of Ripley and Baby Reindeer, there’s every reason to. Both actors’ performances are nominated at the upcoming Emmy’s: Andrew as Patricia Highsmith’s mysterious character Tom Ripley and Jessica as troubled stalker Martha in Richard Gadd’s black comedy. “There’s a kind of blankness to that character,” Andrew says, on portraying his version of Tom Ripley. “He’s an unreliable hero, and so part of it was to just embrace that chasm and that became sort of enjoyable to play.”

For Jessica, playing Martha in Baby Reindeer was the role of a lifetime. “Richard’s writing of Martha was so nuanced, I just connected with her,” she says, on first reading Gadd’s script. “Not to be too cheesy, but Andrew played a massive part in terms of how I approached the part. I remember we had a chat, and when I got the job, you were like, ‘go for it’… I remember your passion.”

It was the sort of role that she had been fighting for, Jessica explains, and this was her chance. But Andrew already knew the genius of Jessica Gunning. “She's been a sort of stalwart of our stage and screen for so many years, but now everybody knows how amazing and brilliant and beautiful she is,” he says, with a broad smile. Those Emmy nominations are just another part of a journey they’ve shared since meeting on the set of Pride a decade ago. “And the fact that we get to experience that together is just so magical, isn't it?”

[samueldays]

Followup news: one of the Bike Boys from the CitiBike Incident has released his side of the story, via his mother and Monique Judge.

A TL;DR in two parts:

1: Tearjerking demographic sympathy-farming and "I never thought leopards would make hysterical accusations at MY son, sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Making Hysterical Accusations Party"

2: My son has receipts too, they show that he was being deliberately dishonest and exploiting the system.

To expand on the first point:

Betty has seen video after video of racists and trolls calling her son a “thug” and a “thief” and labeling him as a “man” when, in her words, “He’s just a boy.” It hurts her that people are saying these things — things that she knows are not true — about him.

Betty is disturbed that people believe the worst about what her son might have done, based on little or no evidence. (And the "thief" charge is arguably correct, as we'll see below.)

Betty said she was horrified when she first saw the video. “My reaction when I saw it was ‘oh my God. I almost lost my son in that moment.’ Do you understand me? I am not from here, but we all know this country,” she said. “But how the policemen here do our sons, and our husbands, and our fathers. They kill us.” Betty continued. “So with a white woman standing right there and screaming for someone to help, if the police had come, and my son was standing there, they are going to shoot him. If he runs, they are going to shoot him.”

Betty believes the worst about what the police might have done, based on little or no evidence, to an extent that is hysterical, delusional, and paranoid.

I don't blame her. She's a propaganda victim, on par with the youtube commenters she decries.

I blame Progressive America for engaging in massive amounts of misinformation, propaganda, fear campaigns, cherrypicking and brainwashing about the relative threat posed by blacks and cops.

(I expect some people may object "he was unarmed!" here, and I respond that the point still stands, the annual homicide stats indicate unarmed black men are about 10x more likely to kill someone else than they are likely to get killed by the police.)

To expand on the second point:

CitiBike in cooperation with NYC has a program where rides shorter than 45 minutes can be free if you're on welfare, details at this link.

One can infer the contours of decisionmaking policy that led here: simply making bike rides entirely free on welfare would lead to a bunch of assholes joyriding bikes all day, while simply giving the poors money and expecting them to pay would lead to a bunch of idiots drinking away their money and still having no bike rides; so you get this kind of half-assed compromise.

Re-docking the bike resets the timer, allowing him to ride for another 45 minutes before stopping again. “Even regular Citi Bike riders do this,” Mary explained. “The price goes up after 45 minutes for everyone, so people routinely ride their bikes, dock their bikes, ride their bikes, and dock their bikes again.”

I can see why people do it, but it's still kinda skeevy. The point of the 45-minute limit is that other people should get a chance to use the bikes too, without needing to queue at the docking station and wait for the short available period between rides. It may be excusable if there's plenty of spare bikes and nobody needs to queue, but that apparently wasn't the case here.

Now I want to emphasise that this article I'm quoting is Bike Boy's side of the story, presented as a defense of what he was up to, by a sympathetic journalist known to have been previously dishonest in his favor:

Michael said after resting in Harlem for a bit, the boys continued riding into the Lower East Side of Manhattan. They grabbed frozen yogurt and then headed to the Citi Bike docking station at 1st Avenue and E 30th Street near Bellevue Hospital in the Kip’s Bay neighborhood. They docked their bikes at 7:19 p.m. and sat there to rest. Michael insisted he and his friends never left the bikes unattended. They don’t leave the bikes. Michael said all four of his friends also have the same Citi Bike Reduced Fare membership, so they docked the bikes to stop the timers from going over 45 minutes. [...] Michael was still standing near his bike with his hands on the handlebars. [...] Michael says that is when Sarah Jane Comrie moved closer to him and his bike, leaned over him, and scanned the QR code with her phone even as he had his hands on the handlebars. She then pushed her way onto the bike and attempted to remove it from the docking station and take it. It was 7:24 p.m., and that is when the boys began recording.

Let's suppose for a moment that Michael and the journo are telling the truth here in their pre-video claims of "Michael says".

Even if we take their account at face value, Michael has crossed a line from kinda skeevy to outright wrong. He is trying to have it both ways at once: "using the bike" continuously so that no one else can use it, and "not using the bike" so that he doesn't have to pay for his extended continuous use. Which is it? Pick one.

Either way, sounds like he was a thief, the question is whether he was robbing CitiBike or robbing Sarah Comrie. That I leave to someone else to resolve.

[nicolesainz]

New Romantics (Part IX)

Carlos Sainz x OC x Mason Mount

Author’s note : thank you all so much for spending time to read this short story. I didn’t know whether this would make it until the end, but it did. And I am more than glad. I love both of these men immensel. Please forgive me for the ending. I promise in my third fan fic story (yes the second one is on the road), the mistreated guy, will have a good ending! For now, enjoy the final part. Much love and appreciation:)

Warnings: fluff, a tad of tearjerker

Carlos’s words left me teared up. He’s been a massive part of my life and will always be. He’s a man I fell for hard. I could have given him every single of my love’s last drop. Sadly, my love was mistreated. Something that neither of us wanted to happen.

He’s a man that will always be special to me in many ways. He made me smile and giggle when I wasn’t feeling happy. He made me cheer for him because of his successes. But he also made me cry. He broke my heart into a thousand pieces. A heart he disappointingly couldn’t mend.

But Mason did. He mended it in the best way possible. He is my saving grace. He will get my love’s last drop. Whenever he is around, I feel safe. I know that he will protect me. And for that I am more than thankful to him.

My life with Mason’s has been in “rollercoaster mode” for many years. Now, it’s finally back on track. The old version of myself would question “Why Mason and not Carlos?”

The new version replied “I’m glad it’s Mason and not Carlos”. With Carlos, it would have felt wrong. Forbidden. Unsafe and risky. We are better of as friends. I will always be a supporter of him, but being a girlfriend at the same time would hurt.

Whereas with Mason, everything feels right. Like pieces falling into place. Absolute peace and heal. He’s more than I could ask for. I knew from the first moment, that he would make me happy. And he does!

The British Grand Prix, finished off on a high. A high I am more than pleased to have witnessed firsthand. What a major success for Carlos! The happiness in me wasn’t contained once I heard Crofty saying:

“A man making his 150th start, from pole position, he’s going to take victory, and for the first time in Formula One, Carlos Sainz, is victorious! He wins the British Grand Prix”

I felt the entire Ferrari garage, next to McLaren’s all shaken up and screaming or shouted at the top of their lungs. Even a few McLaren employees were happy for Carlos. As a former member of their team, it was more than sure that they were rooting for him.

I had a big smile plastered all over my face. This was a moment worth treasuring. Mason knew everything that had occurred a few days ago between me and Carlos. I would never hold anything back from him. He deserved to know everything.

“Quinn, go congratulate him. I will be waiting here” he softly caressed my back and whispered in my ear

“No, no. It’s okay. I will text him afterwards”

“Baby, I understand who he was to you before we got together. I’m not angry nor jealous. You chose me. He’s your friend. Go!”

If Mason wasn’t the most thoughtful and sweet man on earth, I don’t know who is then!

I removed my headset and ran towards the podium before a lot of people could surround the place. First in line, along with Oñoro, Rupert, Carlos Sr and the Ferrari crew. I switched on my camera as I saw Carlos walking on top of the podium.

Checo and Lewis both started clapping and cheering for their fellow driver and first time winner. After years of anticipation, he made it. This was one of my proudest moments.

When Carlos eyed me during the celebration, a happy expression covered his entire face. My heart fluttered with this sight. I was sad to let him go, but it was the best for the both of us in the end.

“I am sorry things ended like this between you” Rupert said as we were clapping for the other two drivers

“I will always love Carlos. Nothing will change that. He knows I will always be by his side. Even when I wasn’t present, I rooted for him. No matter how hurt I was”

“He loves you more than you can imagine. But he was willing to sacrifice his love for your happiness. I hope Mount treats you well, otherwise, he’ll deal with the Spanish gang, featuring the Brit, of course”

I let out a giggle and hugged both of the men in Carlos’s team one last time. I hated that this was goodbye.

I looked up one last time, only to see Carlos mouthing something at me.

“I need to see you”

I waited for the winner to come down and be congratulated by his team first and then me.

“I don’t know if you wanna be hugged by a sweaty-“ before he could finish his sentence, I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him as tight as I could.

“Thank you for staying until the end. It means a lot to me” he said trying to catch his breath.

“I hope Mason understand and won’t be mad afterwards. I truly don’t wanna ruin anything”

“He’s not. He’s the one who encouraged me to come up and congratulate you. He knows who you were and are to me.”

“I’m glad to see you smile Quinn. I missed seeing you like this. And I am sorry for being the reason this smile was wiped away.”

“Everything is in the past Carlos. Don’t think about this now. We can let it go.”

“I wish you all the best in life. Forgive me for not being the one who would give you the world. I hope Mason does. He truly loves you.”

“Enjoy your victory. It’ll be one of the many. I am proud of you. Farewell Carlos. I love you”

Before I leave, I plant a small kiss on his cheek as a goodbye. I can feel Carlos’s head wanting to turn around but holds back. He knows we wouldn’t work. There was an us but it was weak.

————————————————————————-

4 months later

“When are you flying to Qatar?” Lando asked me quietly

“Few days before the Grand Prix starts. Mason needs to get there earlier. Southgate wants them to familiarize with the surroundings”

“So we will meet there won’t we?”

“Once you arrive to Qatar, let us know”

“Sure”

Lando was trying to hold back tears. It was the final race of the season. And the second time my brother had to say goodbye to a teammate.

The news broke out around August…

“Daniel Ricciardo is parting ways with McLaren, ending his contract one year earlier”

We all knew Danny was on a rough patch but never would have imagined this ending. The day I saw the news, was during one of the games against Crystal Palace. I simply opened my phone to film Mason when a notification from Sky Sports popped up.

It was half time and Mason looked up to the grandstands, only to be met with a shocked expression on my face, with a few tears rolling down my eyes. He didn’t waste time to come and find me.

“Daniel is leaving. I need to go to my brother”

Was all I said to him. Mason understood, so we both flew to Belgium, which was the first race taking place after the summer break.

Loosing Carlos was hard. It hurt him. He didn’t want Daniel as his teammate. With Carlos they were best friends. Inseparable. When his relationship with Daniel reached equal levels, he was taken away too. My brother was disappointed. He was going to lose another friend. And this time, he wouldn’t see him on the grid. He’d be gone.

“I’m so sorry Lan. I know firsthand how difficult this can be. Neither of you deserved this. I hope he’s still around and visit you. I know he will. Even if he doesn’t get picked up by another team”

Trying to comfort Lando days like this was heartbreaking. One of the few times I see him cry. Daniel was like his big brother. They’ve gotten so close over the last year.

————————————————————————-

“How are you feeling Mase?” I said to my boyfriend while his eyes were wandering all over the view.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” He put his hand on his mouth to cover the gasp he let out from the shock

“Believe it. Because it’s real. And you made this happen!” I take his hands into mine and let him enjoy his surroundings one final time before I leave for my hotel.

Mason turns his focus on me. He always inspects me with such tenderness and love in his eyes, that the butterflies won’t stop fluttering. Everything feels so perfect. Spending those months around Mason have been an absolute bliss. I’ve never felt happier.

“I hate that we have to stay separately. I’m so used to waking up next to you, that it will feel weird not having you by my side” he cups my cheeks, caressing them softly

“Me too. But I will visit every day after training and be first in line at all the matches. And you can FaceTime me whenever you want” a smirk formed on Mason’s face

“Are you suggesting phone sex missy? Because I’m all in” he grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him, started to spread kisses all over my collarbone.

I grabbed his face in my hands and smashed our lips together. I love him. Three words I haven’t been able to say in order not to scare him off. I know that himself has said that he wants to be with me and shows this type of affection but foremost we were friends. “I love you” to us was a way of saying “you’re my best friend”. Now, it has a completely different meaning.

“I love you Mason. More than you could ever imagine.” Escapes my mouth after we break the kiss. My heart is beating so fast, I feel like it will come out of my chest

“Then great! Because I plan on loving you forever. You’re my It, Quinn. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else but you. You’re the reason that even after a bad game I still smile. Because I know you’re next to me whatever happens”

I hug Mason so tightly, as if it’s the last time I will ever see him. Who would have told me that I would end up falling in love with my best friend and mend a very broke heart.

“You’re my best friend and first love. I don’t intend to love someone else more than you. You walked a path with me that I would want to keep on crossing, only if it’s with you”

Fin.

Thank you all for reaching the end! It means the world to me I got to share my little thoughts with you and poured them into this story. Thank you for liking and sharing all my works too, I am eternally grateful xxx

On to the next one now!

@alwaysclassyeagle thank you for wanting to join my masterlist! It means a lot 🫶🏻

@almondsblog I hope you like the ending of the story (since you’re the biggest mase fan!❤️)

[m64fan]

Hilda and... Hilda! The one on the right is from the You're Not my Mum AU, created by @pikablob . In it, Hilda from the Tie-In novels ends up in the show universe and Johanna adopts her. It's a massively tearjerking and yet very, very warmhearted story. Consider checking it out, and consider checking out Pika's other content!

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

I was kind of thinking of something, randomly, concerning TOY STORY 5. Perhaps the most questionable upcoming Pixar film, and animated sequel period.

And this kinda ties in with the whole news swirl about Disney execs mandating Pixar to tone down all the directors' personal quirks in upcoming features...

I think about how Pixar is sometimes presented, aesthetically. That star ball that first appeared in their debut project, the 1986 short film LUXO JR., seems to dominate their name. Red, yellow, blue, loud primary colors.

Almost synonymous, and not so much the individual aesthetics of the films themselves. I feel I see this in the parks, social media stuff, etc. As if a Pixar film is a genre: Kooky "What if?" premises, tearjerker moments, cuddly characters, "relatable" for "all". That new live-action/hybrid movie IF seems to strive to be "like" a "Pixar film", and I've seen plenty of other animated films try to do this too. It's like how "Disney animated movie" is sometimes pigeonholed as "fairy tale princess musical/once upon a time".

Someone on twitter also put it best, when describing why a film like TURNING RED was a welcome change of pace... Pixar was, for the longest time, films for dads, by dads. And yeah, that tracks. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, Brad Bird... The directors whose original films are often considered the "true" Pixar films, the foundational films at that... They're dads, and their lives as dads absolutely informs many of those pictures.

And you look at TOY STORY 3 and TOY STORY 4 in comparison to their relatively looser, even somewhat '90s edgier predecessors...

... They reflect Lasseter/Stanton/Docter/Unkrich in their near-middle age. Those films are visually a lot more vibrant, warmer, and while still very humorous throughout, they have a cozier vibe that's absolutely SMOTHERED in emotion, big damn goodbyes, sauteed in those signature Pixar cry juices. "When She Loved Me", but the whole damn movie. The young and edgy energy of those guys in their 20s and 30s vs. a more mature adult phase. I feel you can see this in their other films made during the 2010s, like INSIDE OUT.

And the 11-year gap between TOY STORY 2 and TOY STORY 3 really cements that, for good reason. Time passing and real life essentially informed the story, and it was the just-right mixture that really hit it with audiences. The story wisely played up that cozy nostalgia, the weepies one would get when the baby birds finally leave the nest... and the filmmakers gave the gang the proper send-off. But because of how it wore its heart on its sleeve, for some, TOY STORY 3 seemed like the perfect ending even though it definitely left things open for future adventures with Woody and Buzz and Bonnie's toys.

And for a little while, some short films and TV specials filled that gap quite nicely. Short little adventures, and the characters being fun and funny for a little while. TOY STORY OF TERROR! is the best of those, in my opinion. Felt much more '90s TOY STORY, a straightforward story that didn't have a mini-goodbye in it or some massive emotional moment. Halloween aesthetics, nighttime motel setting, horror movie homages. Good stuff! TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT, by contrast, kinda goes for that at the end when the Battlesaurs are being played with. Which makes sense, really, it was a Christmas special.

TOY STORY 4 arrived nine years after TOY STORY 3, and is much similar in tone and quite similar visually. It's still pretty, vibrant, and sunny, and it still reflects that "we're much older now" vibe. More sentimental, packed with those big emotional moments and an ending that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reportedly couldn't bring themselves to record their voices for. A big goodbye, but this time, for Woody. I think for some people, that felt like overkill after how emotionally heavy Part Tre was... when TOY STORY 4 could've just been a feature-length TOY STORY OF TERROR!-type adventure... Which, funnily enough, it was going to be at one point... Upon its announcement in 2014... One iteration was a peculiarly weird story about one of Bonnie's cousins swapping the heads of Woody and Buzz. Sounded very experimental and different, a complete 180 from the tone of TOY STORY 3. This is probably what was being worked on for a 2017 release, but after a lot of writer changes and delays, it became TOY STORY 3 Redux with Woody saying goodbye to his lifelong friends and going off with Bo Peep. I personally quite like the film, myself, so this is more an observation than a knock. It ended Pixar's 2010s the way TOY STORY 3 started them.

So with that, I feel a lot of the reactions to TOY STORY 5's announcement a year ago (in addition to reminders that it's in the works) stem from the thought that we're going to get - 7 years after TOY STORY 4 - yet another movie like this. How many more goodbyes can there be? How many more losses? How many more hyper-emotional adventures? The ongoing "we say goodbye to our kids"/"softer middle age" era of the old Pixar guard, many of which are off doing other things now. It's really only Docter and, to a lesser extent, Stanton, nowadays. The last two of "Team TOY STORY", as I like to call them - because Brad Bird came to Pixar after the fact, and was the only outsider for a while who got to direct features.

But what if... What if TOY STORY 5 wasn't that? And it theoretically goes back to the core essence of the original? You look at the original TOY STORY, released in 1995 and its 1999 sequel, and you compare them to 3 & 4... What if TOY STORY 5 circled back to that kind of simpler buddy comedy adventure? With less of that cozy vibe and more '90s in presentation? With all the clever wordplay and character stuff? That doesn't have to be a bad thing. The original TOY STORY may not have the goodbyes and "feels" of TS3/4, but it launched everything for a reason: It's still a rock-solid, sharply-written buddy comedy in the vein of the films that inspired it, like THE ODD COUPLE and MIDNIGHT RUN. That's what helped it stick out in a sea of Disney musicals and the imitators. Maybe just that, TOY STORY as it is on the tin, works out? It'd be like their ABBEY ROAD, in a way. No tricks or gimmicks, it's just straight up TOY STORY. Could be a fresh new way to revisit those characters and not have to "top" the endings of 3 & 4. Maybe it could even be a midquel set in between 1 & 2, or 2 & 3, or 3 & 4. How Woody and Buzz are back together remains to be seen, unless the movie follows two plots and they never meet up. Or do very briefly. I dunno, Bonnie and her family go on vacation and they cross paths for a moment and have a brief "old pals" hug? Again, we'll see...

Either that, or they could straight up SPIDER-VERSE/PUSS IN BOOTS 2-style reinvent the whole thing in a wild, dynamic new way... So that it doesn't feel like a stale chestnut, a moldy oldie anymore.

But we'll see. This is from big bad Disney after all, and that new interview seems to indicate one thing... And maybe at D23 in August, we'll hear something about its storyline. It is certainly one I'm keeping my eye on, though...

[nocturnasnadderaneas]

I think a massive sin Dreamworks committed is setting up spin-off bait with the Hiccup/Astrid kids and Toothless/LightFury kids meeting, and then making The Nine Realms instead. Like, the ending of Naruto sucked hard just so they could have kids for spin-off bait, but at the very least they succeeded with making their next-gen spin-off, however shitty it may be. Now it feels like HTTYD3's ending just sucked for no reason, I guess. Could've made a show with Zephyr/Nuffink/Nightlights protags (and a tearjerking Hiccup/Toothless reunion) but nope, we need some random modern kids and the awful-looking inbred dragons instead. Make it make sense.

hm, okay, while i do think the end of homecoming could have been used as a jumping off point for a future series with the way they had zephyr and toothless meet at the end, i also fully believe that they—incredibly ironically—wrote themselves into a hole, which is why the nine realms is the way it is.

they made httyd: thw, which, however bleak it is, is still a conclusion to the franchise. but they still wanted to make money off the intellectual property, so they kept asking themselves, “how can we have dragons when we said we can never ever have dragons again?” so that’s how we got homecoming and the nine realms.

the funny thing is, i don’t think the main idea of the nine realms is bad. really! like, instead of the way the nine realms approaches it, think about it like this instead,

centuries after the dragons all leave for the hidden world, let’s say there is a collective realization that things cannot continue this way—i.e living in the battle dome that is the hidden world—and they all just leave. it’s a massive event; think of something similar to the mass titan awakening in godzilla: king of the monsters. a lot of dragons die, a lot of people die, but in the midst of the chaos, there are humans doing awful things to dragons, but also humans trying to figure out how to coexist with them, and amidst those humans and dragons, just so happens to be the far far far descendants of hiccup and toothless!

you could even have the scene where the descendants of hiccup and toothless find their ancestors stuff and while respectful of hiccup and toothless’ history, consider their choices harmful in the long run and pick up the good fight that toothless forced himself and hiccup to abandon.

[tainbocuailnge]

the average young-ish dutch person is gonna respond to someone wanting to learn dutch with “why bother though” because if you speak english to the average young-ish dutch person they’ll immediately respond in english. i know a lot of native dutch speakers who consider dutch silly and inelegant and just prefer english. and based on the anecdotal evidence of my personal experience it’s in large part bc a lot of us grew up on english language media, because the dubbing scene in the netherlands was miniscule (i don’t know the current state of it but hopefully it’s improved since my childhood where every pokemon movie had a different VA for ash) so we’re just not used to engaging with most things in dutch, especially online because the online spaces where people primarily speak dutch boil down to like, your bigoted extended family members on facebook. several universities give their courses in english because university graduates are one of the primary export products of the netherlands. so dutch ends up designated and dismissed as an unrefined language among dutch speakers bc many highly educated dutch people just don’t often speak it in contexts where more refined language is required and most of their experience with formulating critical thought is in english (which is the case for me too, i often slip into english while having arguments in dutch for this reason). 

which isn’t to say dutch doesn’t often sound silly and unrefined (i like to describe it as drunk german) but it’s not like english can’t also sound dumb as hell and there’s a massive amount and range of dutch literature that wouldn’t have nearly the same amount of elegance or charm or impact in another language. radio stations that proudly focus on dutch music will more often than not play 90% lame tearjerkers and carnival music but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any good or elegant or skilful dutch lyricism out there (and some of the tearjerkers are really good!). it’s kind of a vicious cycle because the interest in dutch language media being so small means there’s less incentive to make more of it means there’s less actually good dutch writing means interest drops even more. and speaking for myself I doubt i’d actually use dutch language options in video games and the like because i’m so used to everything digital being in english. but it’s not because there’s something inherently bad or lame or stupid about dutch it’s a culmination of many cultural and socioeconomic factors. my point i guess being if you want to learn dutch don’t let dutch people telling you not to bother deter you because i bet at least half of them only think it’s lame because the last time they critically engaged with the language was to write their high school book reports on literature they didn’t understand

[davenweenie]

Now that all THATS over

Lab Rats Headcanons! whoop!

-the first time Adam, Bree and Chase experienced real snow was a bit of a tearjerker for many reasons. It was during the Avalanche situation, I think they all have PTSD from snow now

-I HC Adam as gay or pan, he didn’t realise how heteronormative it was outside the lab in the real world. Bro was so confused. He was like ‘wait, doesn’t every guy like other guys?’ Leo was not prepared to have to tell Adam about different sexualities.

-Adam didn’t normally defend Chase in school, in his eyes his brother was bionic therefore could take it but the moment someone said some transphobic shit to Chase all hell broke loose. It ended with Chase having to use his Override App to get Adam to stop otherwise he could have potentially killed the guy.

-Chase has contamination OCD and constantly uses his bionic eye/microscopic vision to check everything that he touches and eats. This only got so bad because they all got really sick after leaving the lab for the first time and getting sick a lot after starting to eat normal food. This is a very self indulgent hc.

-they don’t get any painkillers or numbing medication when they have their chips extracted and put back in. When Leo finds out he is mortified because they don’t act like they’re ever in pain

-this is such a niche thing but I think Spin is queer (literally, that’s the label he uses bc same) and he realised because of Bob which he is so embarrassed by.

-Chase is allergic to life. Animal fur? Check. Most fruit and veg? Check. Lactose? Check. Pollen? Check.

-Chase could potentially speak any language in the universe, even if it isn’t an official language if he studied it he could learn the patterns and understand it.

-Chase’s weird flash drive fingers freak everyone, they just never say anything because they do come in useful.

-Chase is a massive control freak but it’s only because his life is so out of his control that he thinks if he can control everyone else it will make him feel better. It makes him way more stressed though.

That’s it from me and Lily who is the puppy I’m taking care of for the day. She’s adorable but she keeps trying to chew my plushies which is not gonna happen on my watch.

[moviemunchies]

I have been a bit ‘meh’ on some of Marvel’s recent output, but I liked the first two Guardians movies a lot, and this is the same team, so I thought I’d give it a go! And I think it turned out to be a good thing I did.

Though warning: if you like animals this one’s going to be rough on you.

The Guardians are settling into their life right now, with some doing better than others. After everything that happened with Gamora at the end of the Infinity Saga, Peter’s more than a little torn up. But when Rocket gets injured, the only way to save him is to gain information from the one who experimented on him to make him the way he is: the High Evolutionary.

The High Evolutionary, however, is a massive douchebag (if experimenting on animals wasn’t a big enough clue) with tons of resources and manpower at his disposal, so getting the data they need to heal Rocket is pretty difficult to get their hands on.

Uh, so this movie’s pretty dark? There is a REASON that PETA loves this movie. There are a lot of fuzzy animals, and there are terrible things that happen to them! So be aware of that going in. With that notice there are probably a couple of Plot points where you can guess a couple of the plot points that are going to happen in the movie, but it’s not exactly a surprise for the savvy viewer.

Despite  that darkness, it doesn’t really seem to lose hope. It’s a dark movie, but in the end it views that darkness as something to be left behind. From some of the trailers, I was sure that the movie might end in a way that’s apocalyptic to our characters. And while there are certainly moments that will probably be tearjerkers for those invested in the characters, it’s not a ‘everyone dies’ sort of movie.

Something I’ve thought about is how the last two Thor movies were compared to Guardians of the Galaxy in tone because they’re funny and weird and involve space. But the difference, for me at least, is that James Gunn actually develops and cares about the characters in his movie. He doesn’t always give them due attention, to be fair, but they’re more than just punching bags for jokes to happen to. I think here Gunn gives attention to characters who he hasn’t always given their due in past films (mostly I’m thinking of Draxx and Mantis).

There’s a Hallway Scene?? I didn’t expect that. Okay, for those of you not in the know–Daredevil on Netflix started this trend of “the Hallway Scene”, a fight scene through a hallway which is done in one take. Generally it’s done with practical effects, though it’s not here. Daredevil does it in every season, and some of the other Marvel Netflix shows had their own equivalent.

Well Guardians of the Galaxy jumped on that long after the bandwagon had left the station, but it’s still awesome. Again, it’s not built on practical effects, but it’s a fight scene in a hallway with all the Guardians, done in one take (or at least, designed to look like it). I’m impressed that they managed this.

This movie feels thematically heavier than the previous ones, too? Maybe that’s just a me thing. There’s a lot in the first two movies about family, abuse, about redemption and all of that, and much of it is here, too. But the High Evolutionary sees himself as a God stand-in, and so in the conflict you get this idea of him as an abusive deity that punishes his creations for problems they can’t help and being envious of his own creations.

[Tor had an article arguing that ALL the movies in this trilogy are about abusive religions, which I think is a stretch, but an interesting idea anyway.]

TV Tropes also posited the theory that you could read the relationship between Rocket and the High Evolutionary as a metaphor for the relationship between Gunn and the Disney Corporation (they rejected him and then pulled him back when they felt they needed him), but I suspect that wasn’t an intentional reading. Fascinating to think about all the same, though.

Let’s just say I am interested to see what critical conversations pop up after this movie.

I think if you’ve been keeping up with these characters, and are invested in their stories. then you should definitely see this movie. I don’t know if this is the last time we’ll see these characters, but the whole movie has an air of finality about it, and it resolves a ton of arcs and threads. It’s a pretty darn good movie. I don’t know if I’d say it’s as good as the previous two movies, but that’s only because I’m still turning it over in my head.

[mzannthropy]

Kindred spirits appear when you least expect them (geddit?).

Normally it wouldn't be a massive deal hating something popular, bc inevitably, everyone's gonna hate something popular at some point in their lives. But what do you do when you hate Me Before You and LOVE Sam Claflin, what do you do then? What do you do, when you see an article about him and get that dreaded feeling in your stomach as you click to open it, bc you know that film will be mentioned? (I want to hug every journalist who doesn't bring it up. Nicely done work, Men's Health.) What do you do when you see all the comments from people who love that film saying how much they cried? (Why? WHY???? What is there to cry about? How easily impressed people are by a cheap tearjerker?) What do you do when that film is sold as the best thing in romance, a True Love (how?), a "doomed love story" (how????? Romeo and Juliet is a doomed love story, not this trash). What do you do when you know there are much, much better, more quality films with Sam to watch, with better developed female characters AND love interests--but everyone ignores them? What do you do?

Will: You're the only thing that makes me wake up in the morning.

Also Will: kills himself.

How truly inspirational! /s